Minister-President,

Ministers,

Deputy Secretary General Shekerinska,

Ambassadors,

Assistant Secretary Generals,

Generals and Admirals,

Members of the European Parliament

Honoured guests,

My wife Katja and I are very grateful that you accepted our invitation to the Residence this evening. I look forward to working with all of you in the years ahead!

Today, we are celebrating the 35^th anniversary of the Day of German Unity. This is the happiest day in modern Germany’s history. It stands like few others for the determination of people to live in freedom, and of our people to live free in a sovereign united Germany.

It is precisely that freedom and sovereignty for which Ukrainians are fighting day and night in the fourth year of the war against a ruthless Russian aggressor. The steadfast resistance and the courage of the Ukrainian people remind us each and every day of the precious yet fragile nature of the happiness we enjoy.

This year, Germany also celebrated 70 years of being in NATO. We do not forget the part this Alliance played in the fall of the Berlin Wall. It took our great Allies in NATO, who backed frontline West Germany during the Cold War and the wisdom of a generation to invite united Germany into the EU and NATO.

With gratitude comes responsibility – a responsibility that we embrace:

By stationing a German brigade in Lithuania, by all the efforts we are undertaking along the eastern flank, by finally living up to our share of the burden when it comes to defence spending and by serving as a key logistics hub in peace, in crisis and in conflict.

Now, Germany’s federal states - or as we say the Länder - also play a crucial role here, I am therefore especially delighted to welcome our co-host and guest of honour this evening: the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Willkommen, lieber Hendrik Wüst.

North Rhine-Westphalia is a great Bundesland. Hendrik Wüst was born there, I was born there. And it is not only the Land geographically closest to us here in Brussels, it is also a key NATO location – by way of example, let me just mention the NATO AWACS aircraft base in Geilenkirchen.

This evening, I am particularly grateful for how your Land helped to make this evening possible. After the speeches, we will enjoy all sorts of delights fom North Rhine-Westphalia, great food, world famous beers and wines, and a musical backdrop provided by the State Police Orchestra.

And with that - Minister-President – the floor is yours.